Lethal Weapon 3
The Third Movie in the Lethal Weapon Series. Plot Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh, Sargeants with the Los Angeles Police Department, respond to a call of a bomb at the ICSI building. The building had already been evacuated. Riggs convinces Murtaugh to go in with him, reasoning that the Bomb Squad never arrives on time. Riggs examines the bomb, and decides to cut one of the wires. They are joined (and distracted) by a stray cat. When Riggs finally cuts a wire, the timer accelerates, forcing them to run for their lives. The building explodes and collapses. Shortly afterward, well within the time remaining if Riggs hadn't have tampered with the bomb, the Bomb Squad arrives. At least they saved the cat. The next day, they are both busted down to patrolman, and patroling the streets. It's especially embarassing for Murtaugh, who is only a week away from retiring from the LAPD. They can't even remember which wire Riggs cut. During the heated argument, Riggs grabs Murtaugh, and stops when he finds Murtaugh is wearing a girdle. He had to wear one so he could fit into his uniform again. Riggs harasses a jaywalker, then notices two men impersonating armored carriers. When the real carrier arrives, one of the impersonators shoots a guard from the real carrier, and gets away in his stolen armored car. While Riggs hangs on, the female driver of the real carrier follows with Murtaugh aboard. Riggs eventually tosses one of the impersonators out of the carrier (who gets away), then gets in the cab, buckles his seat belt, and forces it to brake, making the second person fly through the windshield. He is brought into custody, but taken to the hospital first. Murtaugh is flustered as he spent the entire chase being flirted at by the driver. The next morning, Riggs arrives at Murtaugh's house, as they are getting ready for the house to be viewed by a potential buyer. Murtaugh gives Riggs dog biscuits to chew on to help him stop smoking. As it turns out, Leo Getz, their old witness protection client, is Murtaugh's real estate agent. He brings them through, but when Riggs and Murtaugh get into another argument, they end up in a position that scares off the buyers. Murtaugh takes his frustration out on Leo, since Leo mentioned the toilet bomb incident. When Riggs reminds them of the time Murtaugh shot someone with a nailgun in the house, Leo asks if the repairs after the toilet bomb were properly permitted. He says he'll arrange for some backdated permits so that the sale, when they find a buyer, won't hit a snag. Before they leave for work, Murtaugh and Riggs see Murtaugh's son, Nick, talking to his best friend, Darryl, who has become a gangster. At a housing development in the deserts outside Los Angeles, an African-American named Tyrone meets the foreman of the project, Jack Travis. He explains that people will buy the houses because they don't want to live next to people like Tyrone. He then calls over Smitty, who it turns out is the armored carrier impersonater that got away. Travis found out about it, and mentioned that doing something like that would jeopardize their project. He then has someone knock Smitty down and pour concrete over him, killing him as Tyrone watches. While heading to work, Riggs and Murtaugh notice a scene where it looks like Murtaugh's eldest daughter, Rianne, is being held at gunpoint. They intervene, only to find out that it is a scene she is shooting, a scene they just ruined. Initially, the director fires Rianne, but Riggs gets her re-hired with a pay raise. At work, as they change into their uniforms, Murtaugh accidentally discharges his firearm. Riggs takes the heat for it. The two head to the shooting range, where they meet some of their comrades, including Officer Edwards, who is fresh out of the Police Academy and is an incredible shot. Riggs shows them a new bullet that is now in circulation: a pointy-tipped .357 Magnum armor-piercing bullet, called "cop killer" on the streets. The bullets were found in the gun of Billy Phelps, the armored car suspect they caught. Riggs had him moved to Interrogation so he and Murtaugh could question him. Jack Travis arrives at the same building, where he reveals the credentials of an LAPD Lieutenant. In the meantime, Riggs and Murtaugh go up an elevator with a female detective who is in Internal Affairs. At their mutual stop, it is revealed that the detective is Lorna Cole, and Internal Affairs is taking over the case of Billy Phelps, the captured armored carrier impersonater. Angered by this change, they all go to Captain Ed Murphy to clear things up, and meet the head of Internal Affairs as well. They decide to have Riggs, Murtaugh and Cole work together on the case. Riggs and Murtaugh are restored to Sargeants. While they are in their meeting, Jack Travis encounters Billy Phelps in an interrogation room and shoots him with a silencer on, then leaves quickly. Riggs, Murtaugh and Cole find Phelps dead in his seat. Cole reveals that there was a camera covertly installed in every interrogation room, so they see close-up who killed Phelps. As it turns out, Jack Travis is an AWOL cop who they believe correctly has turned rogue. Cole then dismisses Riggs and Murtaugh's involvement, since their man, Phelps, is now dead. Leo Getz walks in on them to tell Murtaugh that the house has termites, but recognizes Travis in the surveillance video. He says he got the man Los Angeles Kings hockey tickets. As a result, the three go to the game to apprehend him. Riggs takes the extraordinary step of using the PA system to call Travis out. Ultimately, Leo finds him, and gets chased out onto the hockey rink by Travis. He's thrown to the ice, and shot in the arm. Riggs follows Travis out of the arena, but loses him. Leo is taken to a hospital for a minor flesh wound, but Riggs recommends he be admitted for a few days. Riggs then adds "proctology" to Leo's chart, making him destined for a rectal exam. To celebrate their re-promotion, Murtaugh takes Riggs to a friend's lunch shack. While Murtaugh makes some hamburgers for them, Riggs notices something at a nearby construction site: several gangsters in an apparent drug deal. He intervenes in that, and gets hit in the back of the head by a 2-by-4. Murtaugh arrives. Most of the gangsters escape, but one hides in a shed. Murtaugh orders the man to surrender, but gets shot at. Murtaugh returns fire, shooting several rounds through the aluminum wall of the shack. The man crawls out, shot several times. He collapses just beyond the door, and dies. Murtaugh turns the man over and takes off his sunglasses: it was Darryl. Murtaugh is distraught, since Darryl was Nick's friend. The call comes in to the Murtaugh residence, where his wife picks up, and finds out about Darryl. Murtaugh arrives home in his car, but doesn't go in...he drives away, still upset, unable to face his family. The next day, Murtaugh didn't arrive to work, but Riggs covers for him to Captain Murphy and the precinct's psychologist. He then comes across Lorna Cole, who insists she speak with him. He drags her into the men's restroom, where she dresses him down for interfering with the Internal Affairs investigation, but Riggs turns it on her, saying she's the one that hasn't been forthcoming. They agree to work together. In Cole's office, they look up information on the gun that Darryl had. It was stolen from an LAPD impound lot several months previous. The reason Internal Affairs is in on the case is because they believe Jack Travis is stealing guns and ammunition from LAPD impound and selling them on the black market. Riggs and Cole go to a suspicious address, one that Billy Phelps have called several times. Riggs distracts the guard dog, a Rottweiler, with the dog biscuits he'd been using to quit smoking. Cole and Riggs then go in to find a bunch of guys loading a truck full of stolen weapons. They initiate a fight, where Cole shows extraordinary hand-to-hand combat skills. The two steal the truck, and Riggs makes sure they take the dog with him. They head back to her place to dress their wounds, and begin comparing old battle scars. Things get heated, and the two end up making love. Riggs briefly stops himself because of a possible "serious ethical breach", only for Cole to tell him to shut up. As it turns out, the aforementioned Tyrone was the intended buyer of the guns Riggs and Cole recovered. Jack Travis convinces him to give him another chance to get his guns and ammo. That afternoon, Rianne arrives at Riggs' beachfront mobile home, where he has brought his new Rottweiler in with his other dog. She says Murtaugh has yet to return home after killing Darryl. That night, Riggs heads to the marina, where he finds Murtaugh aboard his boat, drunk. His killing of Darryl has driven Murtaugh to drink. Initially Murtaugh is angry that Rianne came to Riggs, since he's always worried that Riggs would one day seduce his eldest daughter. Riggs works to snap Murtaugh out of his funk with rhetoric about how they share the same problems, and they need to stick together. Riggs finally talks Murtaugh down, reasoning that Murtaugh had no choice but to kill Darryl since Darryl was shooting at them. The tension resumes when Murtaugh convinces Riggs to tell him his own problem, and Riggs reveals he "slept with somebody he shouldn't have." Murtaugh punches Riggs off the boat, assuming he meant Rianne. After pulling Murtaugh into the water with him, Riggs clears it up, revealing his liaison with Cole, though he has to clarify that he means Lorna, as her uncle works in the Traffic department. They are briefly encountered by an LA County Sheriff boat officer, who tells them to clear out of the water. The next morning, Murtaugh finds Nick attempting to shave, getting ready for Darryl's funeral. Murtaugh helps his son, and Nick says that he doesn't blame his father for having to kill his friend. The Murtaugh family, Riggs and Cole all attend Darryl's funeral. When Murtaugh goes to express his condolences, Darryl's mother slaps him in the face. The boy's father gives Murtaugh an admonishment: Find the man that gave Darryl the gun. Riggs, Murtaugh and Cole then begin a series of raids, tracing the path of Darryl's gun. First they strike one of Darryl's gang buddies, whom Murtaugh dresses down about "genocide", and Black people killing each other. He leads them to Tyrone, who in turn directs them to one of Travis's associates, Herman Walters, where Cole once more shows her hand-to-hand combat skills, this time for Murtaugh to see. Walters gets away, but one of Travis's henchmen, Hubie, is taken into custody. Travis, however, is on his way to the LAPD, where he takes Captain Murphy hostage and begins his next journey to LAPD's storage facility to get more guns. As they work their way through storage, Riggs, Murtaugh and Cole return to the precinct, where Murtaugh asks Riggs to show him some hand-to-hand combat. Riggs demonstrates a roundhouse kick, but when Murtaugh tries it out, he kicks out a water cooler, leading to a brief run-in with the psychologist. Some more research leads them to Mesa Verde Construction, Travis's cover operation. Leo Getz returns from the hospital, promptly going through a tirade about hospitals because of the unnecessary rectal exam, before Murtaugh calms him down and sends him off to research Mesa Verde. As Travis gets finished loading up the guns and ammo he's stealing, with Captain Murphy in tow as a hostage, Cole discovers the files on the very same equipment had just been accessed and deleted. They hurry to the scene, with Edwards tagging along for extra help. Travis attempts to escape via the Subway, which is still under construction. The group discovers the guns missing, and traces them down into the subway, where a firefight ensues. They attempt to kill Murphy, but he manages to push his immediate captor into the rails, electrocuting him on the third rail, and gets away. Edwards is killed when he takes cover behind a barrel, and gets shot by Travis, who is armed with the cop killer bullets. Riggs chases Travis and Walters, who are getting away with the guns on a truck designed to ride the subway rails. He rides the front of a subway car to get to the surface behind the truck. Once surfaced, he commandeers an LAPD motorcycle and pursues the truck. Murtaugh races in his vehicle to catch up. Riggs pursues Travis on the wrong way of a freeway, then into a section that is under construction. Travis manages to get stopped, but Riggs flies off an unfinished ramp, hanging by some cables. The cables give way, and he falls through several platforms. He's okay, despite dislocating his unstable shoulder again. Leo arrives on the scene with the location of Mesa Verde's desert construction project, Rancho Royale. Leo wants to go with them, but Murtaugh shoots out his tires, preventing him from tagging along. Riggs and Murtaugh head to Rancho Royale, where they are joined by Lorna Cole. Murtaugh intends to use Darryl's gun to finish off Travis. They use Cole's car unmanned as a decoy, then attack the development. Riggs gets a truck to spill fuel and drives through the house frames, spilling fuel all over the place. They light the development ablaze. Travis ends up shooting Cole. Murtaugh fights through some of Travis's men, then finds some cop killer bullets and loads up Darryl's gun with them. Riggs fights Travis, then gets pinned down as Travis tries to run him over with a backhoe. Murtaugh takes out Walters, then tosses Darryl's gun to Riggs, loaded with the cop killers. Riggs shoots through the backhoe, killing Travis. Tending to Cole, Riggs finds that she wore two bullet-proof vests. She was still badly hurt, but they prevented even worse injuries. Riggs goes with her as she is medevac'ed by helicopter from the scene. He then lectures her on how you're supposed to live "for" somebody, not "because of" them, declaring his love for her. Murtaugh's final day of work arrives, and he is taking a bubble bath when his family comes in to celebrate his retirement. He breaks the news: he's decided not to retire after all. Leo Getz breaks in and says he's finally sold the house, but Murtaugh tells him about his decision not to retire, and Getz gets upset at the development. The movie ends with Riggs arriving and saying goodbye to Rianne as she heads to her own work. He's also started smoking again, because of a "dog biscuit problem". Murtaugh is again suspicious, but Riggs eases his fears by saying that things are getting serious between himself and Cole, who he is picking up from the hospital later that day. They already have a dog, after all. In an post-credits scene, Riggs and Murtaugh arrive at the scene of another bomb threat. As soon as they exit their vehicle, the building explodes. They quickly get back in the vehicle and drive off like nothing happened, both cursing their bad luck. Cast MARTIN RIGGS - MEL GIBSON ROGER MURTAUGH - DANNY GLOVER LEO GETZ - JOE PESCI LORNA COLE - RENE RUSSO JACK TRAVIS - STUART WILSON CAPTAIN ED MURPHY STEVE KAHAN TRSIH MURTAUGH - DARLENE LOVE RIANNE MURTAUGH - TRACI WOLFE NICK MURTAUGH - DAMON HINES CARRIE MURTAUGH - EBONIE SMITH DARRYL SMITTERS - BOBBY WYNN DARRYL'S MOM - SYLVIA WEBB WHITE DARRYL'S DAD - DANNY BIG BLACK REY BILLY - MARK PELLEGRINO SMITTY - JOHN CENATIEMPO External links Category:Films